Ere the harpies batten indeed,
Their beaks in the nation’s heart.
“According to a certain critic,” said the Daily News in August, 1888, Mr. Swinburne “makes ‘services’ rhyme to ‘berries.’ How in the world does he manage that? Can it be in a poem on Lawn Tennis?”
‘Oh, thy swift, subtle, slanting, services
That skim the net, and ’scape the racket of me,
Oh, thy rich, red, ripe, ruby raspberries,
Oh, thy straw hat, and dainty body of thee!’
Nothing exactly like this occurs in the English edition of Mr. Swinburne’s poems, but this, perhaps, shows how the thing could be done, if the poet were so inclined.”